[Math] Prove or disprove: Every polygon with an even number of vertices may be partitioned by diagonals into quadrilaterals

geometry

Question:

True or False?

Every polygon with an even number of vertices may be partitioned by diagonals into quadrilaterals.

Details:

Any orthogonal polygon may be partitioned by diagonals into convex quadrilaterals. (The proof is available on chapter 2 of "Art Gallery Theorems and Algorithms", by Joseph O'Rourke).

We also know that orthogonal polygons have even number of vertices.

So, it's natural to guess that all polygons having an even number of vertices can be partitioned by their diagonals into quadrilaterals. Is this guess true?

Note: I already know that making the guess stronger by changing from "quadrilaterals" to "convex quadrilaterals" is not true and I have a counterexample for that. But all of the polygons I draw could be partitioned into quadrilaterals. So, if the guess is true, one should probably propose an algorithm to do the partitioning, and if not, a counterexample should be provided.

Best Answer

The statement is false. Consider this polygon on eight sides:

Suppose we colour the vertices of any even-sided polygon black or white. Then it is easy to see that any quadrilateration (decomposition by diagonals into quadrilaterals), if it exists, must use diagonals connecting vertices of opposite colours. Yet the only diagonals lying wholly within this polygon are the edges between the inner square of vertices, the latter of which must all have the same colour. Thus no quadrilateration is possible.

A similar construction shows that such indecomposable polygons exist for any even number of sides greater than 4.

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